Nuclear Waste Department of Energy's Hanford Tank Waste Project Schedule, Cost, and Management Issues.

Abstract

Cleaning up waste produced as a by-product of 50 years of supplying the nation's nuclear materials for weapons is a formidable challenge. The Department of Energy (DOE) spends over $5 billion per year on its program to clean up radioactive and hazardous waste at its nuclear weapons production sites. The Hanford Site, located in southeast Washington State, has one of the greatest concentrations of radioactive waste in the world. One of the most difficult cleanup challenges at Hanford involves the 177 underground storage tanks holding highly radioactive liquid waste, sludge, and other materials. Cleaning up this waste is important because it poses a significant risk to the environment and to surrounding communities. Recently, DOE disclosed that waste leaking from some of the tanks has reached the groundwater and threatens the nearby Columbia River.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA354422

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Cost Estimates
  • Cost Reimbursement Contracts
  • Environment
  • Environmental Protection
  • Environmental Restoration And Remediation
  • Fixed Price Contracts
  • Governments
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Radioactive Wastes
  • Risk
  • Systems Engineering
  • Waste Management
  • Waste Treatment

Readers

  • Environmental Engineering.
  • Strategic Security Studies